Ipswich Hospital

My first priority is to save Ipswich Hospital services.

The government wants to reduce Ipswich Hospital to a glorified treatment centre. This will force Ipswich patients with serious medical conditions to travel an hour and a half to get treatment. While this is good for NHS accountants, it is terrible for Ipswich people - already cancer services have been drastically reduced and emergency care for heart attacks is being cut.

I have opposed these changes since they were proposed and will fight for Ipswich hospitals.

Pensions

The older generation deserve more.

They have contributed so much to Ipswich and to our county, but they are treated badly when they need our care most.

I want to see pensions linked once again to inflation, so that older people can live with dignity. We also need to provide help for carers, so that old people can stay at home for as long as they want.

And, in death, people must be able to pass on their assets to their families without fear of being taxed.

Immigration

Stronger control of our borders.

The government has lost control of immigration. This is bad for Britain and bad for the people who have a genuine need to escape terrible conflict.

I want to see quotas on the numbers of immigrants allowed into the country – and those who have no right to be here should be thrown out.

Your money

Less spending, fewer taxes.

You work hard for your money – but this government spends your taxes recklessly and much is wasted.

I hate wasteful spending and will fight it at every level: every penny of your taxes should be spent as carefully as possible

Schools

Ipswich kids deserve better.

There are some fantastic schools in Ipswich, but some could perform much better.

We need to set teachers free of government targets and bureaucracy. Streaming gives every child the opportunity to excel. And why can't we give headteachers the power to exclude unruly pupils to bring order to our classrooms?

The environment

A genuine passion for our future.

I am committed to a sustainable Ipswich – my career has been dedicated to helping businesses reduce their environmental impact.

We need a government that is completely focussed on reducing carbon emissions. In Ipswich, this means better public transport, effective recycling and real incentives to reduce our carbon footprint.

Families

Strong families, strong society.

Parents have a hard enough job, so our government needs to help them. Without strong families, we have a weak society.

The tax system should promote stable relationships, not work against them. We should encourage people within the extended family to help with childcare, allowing mums and dads to go back to work. And mothers need to be given support in the crucial first months after they have given birth.

Policing

Knife crime has doubled since 2001.

Ipswich has an excellent police force who work hard to keep crime down. But they have to spend far too much time filling in forms, rather than policing the streets.

We can all see the results: people are becoming afraid of going out at night and there is more vandalism.

We need to set the police free of paperwork so they can get on with common sense policing.